TNNE: THE CLOCK THAT WENT BACKWARDS

As a huge fan of No Name's last album, "4", I was very interested to hear that 2 key members had formed a new band, TNNE, and released a new album. I guess the easiest way to rate this album is to compare it to the style of No Name. Well, the differences are rather striking.

The one thing that has not changed is the great vocals of Patrick Kiefer. One of the best voices in prog, very distinctive. Moving on, No Name was a band that featured keyboard dominated, majestic and lyrical songs that often exceeded 10 minutes each. Well, almost nothing in that description also describes this new TNNE album. "The Clock That Went Backwards" is much more guitar focused and has all shorter songs and mostly without the extended instrumental passages. There is even a single edit of one track, "Circles of Life" included as the last track on the album. And although still in the realm of neo-prog, there are several catchy verse-chorus combinations that almost have AOR tendencies.

Still, although this album is quite divergent from what No Name used to do, it is still an enjoyable listen, with many memorable melodies and excellent musicianship and production.